This is for those of us that are like me and don't have a server deicated to there movies, music, tv shows, etc.
I was looking for a way to stream all the movies that I have on my desktop to my Prime when I am either home or away. I stumbled upon Skifta. Skifta is a program you run on your computer that will let you stream movies to/from any upnp/dlna device. Worked really well last night when I was testing it. I streamed day breakers from my computer to the Prime and played it in Dice Player. The picture quality was perfect. Like I was watching it on my computer. Sound was typical Prime sound. What really surprised me was how long it took to start the movie with load times and such, it was fast as hell. I click got a little buffering icon for about 30 seconds and then it was playing. Granted this was on my own wifi and I haven't tested elsewhere yet but it seems promising so far
Links:
Skifta For your phone
Skifta For your computer
Is it Free?
MrCapcom said:
Is it Free?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
Can you play mkv and avi files from it? If so im downloading now!
MrCapcom said:
Can you play mkv and avi files from it? If so im downloading now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The movie I watched was mkv with subs. Works flawlessly.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
I haven't tried an avi yet.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
The best app for streaming is PLEX hands down, streams anything you throw at it, wifi or 3g. great interface and pretty easy to setup. Android app costs $5 but definately worth it. Nothing else compares. I tried Skifta myself in the past but could never get it to work consistently outside my own wifi network.
i prefer VLC pro myself. plays anything and everything, and all you have to do is enable the Web Interface setting on VLC on your PC.
highly suggested to anyone who actually uses VLC on their PC.
Using windows media player to share your files, combined with "mynet" or whatever app it is that comes with the prime is all you need.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
Plex without a doubt
chrisaba1 said:
The best app for streaming is PLEX hands down, streams anything you throw at it, wifi or 3g. great interface and pretty easy to setup. Android app costs $5 but definately worth it. Nothing else compares. I tried Skifta myself in the past but could never get it to work consistently outside my own wifi network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Plex is the best option. It is worth the $4.99 investment. You can use it for all forms of media and file types.
PLEX.......
Definitely looking for something like this. I have a WHS that is loaded with blu-ray movies. Will either of these play ISO files? I have My Movies installed on my home server so the files are ripped into iso.
smashingtool said:
Using windows media player to share your files, combined with "mynet" or whatever app it is that comes with the prime is all you need.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does mynet work outside of your wifi?
Any recommendations for streaming (off network) Video_TS/VOD movies? It looks like plex does not support it...
+ 1 for plex
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
When I get a chance I'll post my round up of over 20 applications I've tested for this purpose. Plex is towards the bottom of the list.
As a quick summary the two best are :
Qloud Media (free version also available, ad supported)
Lightweight/simple to use server
Supports multiple MKV audio tracks (choose before video playback)
Works with every video I've thrown at it
Remembers last folder browsed
Remembers last video location
Works with MKV embedded subtitles and SRT subtitles
Video quality is very good at higher bitrates. Bitrates are customizable (I recommend 3072 for WiFi Connections).
Very stable over low bandwidth 3G, streamed an entire 1080p movie over a ****ty Sprint connection that topped out at 350 k/b (player set for 250/kb streaming) with no problem.
Includes photo and mp3 streaming, both work great
Has a weird quirk that requires you to press the "play" button after using the seek bar on the video client.
Ability to setup multiple users/allowable shared folders
Only requires one TCP port forward for direct remote connection
Server component available only for Windows
Emit (free version also available, ad supported)
I actually found out about Emit after evaluating Qloud, it's probably my #2 choice under Qloud Media. Their featuresets are very similar and I'm betting they're based on similar technologies. I actually bought Emit too because I like the ability to stream via a PC web browser via the Emit web app. On higher end devices capable of high bitrates/resolutions Emit can produce better video quality than Qloud.
If I could only pick one video streamer to purchase I would still pick Qloud Media, the server and client are simply more stable (especially over 3G) and mature (Qloud client shows video thumbnails in the file browser and remembers last folder/video location between restarts). The Qloud photo viewer is a nice added bonus I actually use. On Emit one video I tested had no audio, restarting playback seemed to fix it, starting it again later had the same issue (may be a tablet issue). So if you get no audio try restarting playback.
Lightweight/simple to use server component
Capable of producing best video quality of all streamers tested
Video frame rate seemed a bit choppier when compared to Qloud
Can be very CPU intensive on the server side
Works with every video I've thrown at it
Works with MKV embedded subtitles and SRT subtitles
Supports multiple MKV audio tracks (single button switcher in video player)
Video quality is excellent at higher bitrates. Bitrates and resolution are customizable.
Includes MP3 streaming capability
Playback on PC via web client/Flash
Ability to pre encode video files for later download
Remote direct connection requires one TCP port (http streaming), UDP port range forward for RTSP fallback support (port numbers not customizable, what If I want to run multiple Emit servers?)
Server component available for Windows, MAC and Linux
Awesome info TalynOne, thanks! I tried Plex and since the folder I want to stream has many subfolders that change often it doesn't seem to be the app for me.
TalynOne said:
When I get a chance I'll post my round up of over 20 applications I've tested for this purpose. Plex is towards the bottom of the list.
As a quick summary the two best are :
Qloud Media (free version also available, ad supported)
Lightweight/simple to use server
Supports multiple MKV audio tracks (choose before video playback)
Works with every video I've thrown at it
Remembers last folder browsed
Remembers last video location
Works with MKV embedded subtitles and SRT subtitles
Video quality is very good at higher bitrates. Bitrates are customizable (I recommend 3072 for WiFi Connections).
Very stable over low bandwidth 3G, streamed an entire 1080p movie over a ****ty Sprint connection that topped out at 350 k/b (player set for 250/kb streaming) with no problem.
Includes photo and mp3 streaming, both work great
Has a weird quirk that requires you to press the "play" button after using the seek bar on the video client.
Ability to setup multiple users/allowable shared folders
Only requires one TCP port forward for direct remote connection
Server component available only for Windows
Emit (free version also available, ad supported)
I actually found out about Emit after evaluating Qloud, it's probably my #2 choice under Qloud Media. Their featuresets are very similar and I'm betting they're based on similar technologies. I actually bought Emit too because I like the ability to stream via a PC web browser via the Emit web app. On higher end devices capable of high bitrates/resolutions Emit can produce better video quality than Qloud.
If I could only pick one video streamer to purchase I would still pick Qloud Media, the server and client are simply more stable (especially over 3G) and mature (Qloud client shows video thumbnails in the file browser and remembers last folder/video location between restarts). The Qloud photo viewer is a nice added bonus I actually use. On Emit one video I tested had no audio, restarting playback seemed to fix it, starting it again later had the same issue (may be a tablet issue). So if you get no audio try restarting playback.
Lightweight/simple to use server component
Capable of producing best video quality of all streamers tested
Video frame rate seemed a bit choppier when compared to Qloud
Can be very CPU intensive on the server side
Works with every video I've thrown at it
Works with MKV embedded subtitles and SRT subtitles
Supports multiple MKV audio tracks (single button switcher in video player)
Video quality is excellent at higher bitrates. Bitrates and resolution are customizable.
Includes MP3 streaming capability
Playback on PC via web client/Flash
Ability to pre encode video files for later download
Remote direct connection requires one TCP port (http streaming), UDP port range forward for RTSP fallback support (port numbers not customizable, what If I want to run multiple Emit servers?)
Server component available for Windows, MAC and Linux
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you mind if I put this in the OP?
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
Haro912 said:
Would you mind if I put this in the OP?
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, go ahead.
What does it mean to "stream"? I have a server in my home that holds all my media, pictures, movies, documents, ya know everything. I downloaded the app ES File Explorer (free) and used the LAN mode to find my server, which listed all my shares. Navigate through the folders, find a movie I want to watch (AVI, MKV, WMV, MP4, WMV, etc) and click on it. Plays fine with MX Player. I didn't need any "streamer" software running on my PC or anything else running or to install. Why doesn't everyone use a method similar to this? I don't see the advantage to have to install additional streaming software on a PC to access media. Anyway, just curious.
Related
Only been playing with it for a little bit, but there's a new VLC compatible streaming client available on the Market called VLC Stream & Convert.
It allows you to run VLC on a client on your lan (be sure to add the Web control interface from VIEW/ADD INTERFACE) and connect to it. You can either remote control VLC from the phone....or..you can stream video to your phone from the client side app with a simple filesystem browser.
Though the realtime conversion and streaming isn't the best quality it's most definitely handy and orders of magnitude more seamless than dealing with DLNA.
Maybe everyone else isn't a hardcore media geek with terabytes of video spread about a home lan like me. But this addition to the market makes me happy!
Thought I'd share.
Scott
This looks really cool. Will definitely try this tomorrow after work!
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
masterotaku said:
Only been playing with it for a little bit, but there's a new VLC compatible streaming client available on the Market called VLC Stream & Convert.
It allows you to run VLC on a client on your lan (be sure to add the Web control interface from VIEW/ADD INTERFACE) and connect to it. You can either remote control VLC from the phone....or..you can stream video to your phone from the client side app with a simple filesystem browser.
Though the realtime conversion and streaming isn't the best quality it's most definitely handy and orders of magnitude more seamless than dealing with DLNA.
Maybe everyone else isn't a hardcore media geek with terabytes of video spread about a home lan like me. But this addition to the market makes me happy!
Thought I'd share.
Scott
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may have just solved a problem for me... I am having some issues though.
I have it installed and working. I find my VLC player through the app and can start videos no problem, but there is no audio.
What AAC encoder are you using on your system? Im running on Win7 and cant seem to get it working.
ritalin said:
You may have just solved a problem for me... I am having some issues though.
I have it installed and working. I find my VLC player through the app and can start videos no problem, but there is no audio.
What AAC encoder are you using on your system? Im running on Win7 and cant seem to get it working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On all the PC's on the home lan I now only ever install VLC, Media Player Classic Home Cinema, and FFDSHOW. VLC's built in AAC decoder generally handles things fine, but if it gets confused (in the case of some encodes with weird FOURCC headers) FFDSHOW usually picks up the slack externally.
I'll run through my collection (it's well over 3 terabytes now so it might take a bit) and see if I run across anything with AAC that this stumbles over. I'm running Win7 x64 on this laptop, so it'll be my guinea pig.
I have a good idea of a few known encodes I have with weird AAC audio header info, primarily because they also won't play natively correctly in the phone's built in video player or rock player. I'll let you know what I find out.
EDIT: Well that didn't take long. It seems that the same encodes with .AAC audio that give the built in player grief (as well as Rockplayer) also refuse to have their audio play correctly in this streaming app. Even more interesting, these all play natively within VLC on the desktop. However, VLC, FFDSHOW, and my universal backup plan when encountering weird stuff that won't play (KMPlayer) all use LIBFAAD for .AAC decoding. Upon further investigation it appears that some .AAC profiles (there are actually six baseline types of .AAC audio...go figure) aren't properly supported by Android's native .aac parser (found this info on DoubleTwists support forums).
Looks like this is a native flaw in Android itself at this point. Going to investigate further. Thank god that there are literally only a handful of encodes in my collection that have this problem or I'd be pulling my hair out.
Can someone show me how to use this to stream over 3G??
I opened ports on my router and got my WAN IP entered but it won't let me connect.
Did you enable the Web Interface in VLC on the client PC? It is not on by defaut.
Start VLC on a PC on your lan, go to the VIEW menu....ADD INTERFACE...WEB INTERFACE. With that selected the android client should automatically find the VLC instance running on your lan connected PC. This assumes no additional firewall is blocking the app on the PC.
I got it working pretty good using wifi inside my network, so I think VLC is setup properly.
What I'm trying to do is to stream through t-mobile 3G.
I did the port forwarding in my router, but couldn't get the app to connect my home PC via 3G.
I've been able to get it to connect via 3G here, though only HTTP audio streaming seems to work. RTSP video streaming seems to be broken via 3g, and again this appears to be an Android issue from what I'm reading.
vcxzfdsa said:
I got it working pretty good using wifi inside my network, so I think VLC is setup properly.
What I'm trying to do is to stream through t-mobile 3G.
I did the port forwarding in my router, but couldn't get the app to connect my home PC via 3G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
masterotaku said:
I've been able to get it to connect via 3G here, though only HTTP audio streaming seems to work. RTSP video streaming seems to be broken via 3g, and again this appears to be an Android issue from what I'm reading.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From the dev's site, found here
"Why does rtsp streaming not work over 3G?
Some operators don't allow rtsp on their network. Http streaming should work instead but for videos you can only stream the audio track."
If its true that t-mobile is blocking RTSP then that sucks. Im going to play with it tomorrow and see for myself.
If this doesnt work then Im back to square one. I really wanted to find a way to use the Twonky media server I already have setup and streaming. I have been streaming videos to friends and family for about half a year now. My Fios 30mb up 30mb down even allows me to stream 720p content over UPNP without so much as a hiccup.
First person that can manage to remove the wifi only option in AllShare gets access to my collection. . I have been trying to find it but im not really sure what im looking for in the code.
I've been looking for the best way to transcode and stream video from my file server to my Nook Color. (using handbrake to encode video for local playback works great... but until they sell 5 TB sdhc cards that's not going to cut it )
VLC Stream and Convert works (for every kind of file I've thrown at it... which is no surprise, VLC can handle anything pretty much).. but I haven't been satisfied with the quality. (and I've played with the h265 settings quite a bit). Does anyone have recommended settings for this app?
Also, I have Tversity... but I can't get it to work for all my videos yet.... Has anyone successfully configured Tversity to work with their Nook Color?
Are there any other solutions for this that anyone might recommend?
Thanks
Ive gotten PS3 media server to work with the nook. Its pretty similar to Tvsertity. Install UPnPlay on your Nook and try to access your Tvsertity server. It'll forward the stream to your player of choice (Rock player, etc.)
Only issue I've noticed is with files > 1gb.
has anyone tried twonky? i use it on my epic to stream from my server to phone... it will browse shared files on network and playthem.. or vise versa it can stream from phone to network... next time i have a nook here i can try it myself, but it is a free app so might be worth a shot to see if it will install and run on nook.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.pv.twonkyremote
Subsonic is quite good. It allows you to stream music and videos, however it requires flash to stream videos so I'm not sure how well it works on CM7. It is also not free.
VLC Convert and Stream is the only program I've found that will stream all of the file types I have on my computer. Everything else you'll have to transcode non compatible files first, which may not actually be that bad if you have plenty of storage space and/or you only have a few files that need to be transcoded.
I have my convert and stream playback on phone settings set to 480 width with highest bitrate selected (I don't have pro version, I think you can get up to 640 width with that) and playback settings set to fit to screen so that the videos expand out. I get a few artifacts here and there but the quality is pretty good considering it's over wireless. Biggest problem I had was getting the sound sync'd up, that required some playing around with the delay settings as it was pretty far off at first. Do you have the pro version? That allows higher resolution and possibly higher bitrate (but I'm unsure on the bitrate). When I watched 720p source videos, it looked pretty good.
VLC
Thanks - downloading it from the app store now. I have 2.3.3 running (CM7). I will let you know how it goes. So far nothing else I've tried has worked ;(
I love this app. It works well over home WIFI, but for the life of me I cant get it to connect outside of my home network.
What port forwading settings would I add to get this to work? Wouldnt the rest be the same since at home I use internal IP, outside of home I use external IP? Then forward external IP to the internal one previously set up? Kind of new at this, I've set up live streams before, but cant remember and troubleshoot this properly.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Edit 2: I have followed the directions for VPN and 3G methods but for some reason it wont connect.
Edit 3: Got it working, was missing a single digit in one of my forwards.
I recently tried Plex. That is an exciting app. I love the interface.
The only issue is that even though the streaming works, when I used it over my wifi the playback was laggy (even with overclock). I tried changing the settings and lowering the quality, but it still lagged.
poofyhairguy said:
I recently tried Plex. That is an exciting app. I love the interface.
The only issue is that even though the streaming works, when I used it over my wifi the playback was laggy (even with overclock). I tried changing the settings and lowering the quality, but it still lagged.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed this with Plex as well. I already use it on my Galaxy S and it plays beautifully, but the NC seems to lag no matter what.
HOWEVER, the same video played over subsonic at maximum quality (Transcoded as .flv and embedded in the browser as a flash video) plays surprisingly well.
Any more knowledgeable members know why that is? I can't seem to figure out why.
I watch 720p mkvs transcoded over 3g running cm7 on my nc with no problems using subsonic. Best option I have found. Server is on a ubuntu 10 machine.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App
DLNA
I've been able to use Skifta with RockPlayer or Vplayer to stream from my Windows 7 box (since DLNA is built in). You need a separate video player app in CM7 currently since most codecs have been removed until they get DSP working.
dinobud said:
I've been able to use Skifta with RockPlayer or Vplayer to stream from my Windows 7 box (since DLNA is built in). You need a separate video player app in CM7 currently since most codecs have been removed until they get DSP working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Skifta worked for me first time!
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction
Qloud Media has worked well for me. It's extremely simple to set up.
https://market.android.com/details?id=mobi.qiss.vega.ad
For dlna streaming on my phone i use imediashare and it works perfectly so maybe give it a try on the nook color.
I'm really struggling to get all my videos to stream and am looking for solutions. So far I've had the best luck with My Net and ES with Mobo but I still get several files that wont play audio at all or just loud static. Any ideas without having to convert all my files? Is there a clear list of audio and videos codecs that the TFP will play. I dug around for a bit but didnt find a definitive list.
Thanks!
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
Nothing beats PlayOn.
I have had great success with ES and MX Player but I haven't tried a lot of file types.
BSPlayer and Dice player WILL play anything you throw at them .. and they both have a Lan function to locate files on network shares without needing a seperate app.
I use Dice player and find it works like a charm. You can access a share directly from the app as mention by dannyb.
If you have dlna then try an app called UPNPLAY in combination with Dice player.... this is what I use to stream from my netgear nas.
With mx player you need to change to software encoding sometimes to get sound. Maybe the same with whatever you are using.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using XDA Premium HD app
Danny-B- said:
BSPlayer and Dice player WILL play anything you throw at them .. and they both have a Lan function to locate files on network shares without needing a seperate app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 on the BSPlayer. My NAS was really flaky on the DLNA and I wanted to play MKV files. BSPlayer worked a charm on SMB shares without add on software
PLEX! Run the server on your PC, load the app on any android device and stream. The nice thing about PLEX is that it uses your PC to decode, then streams to the device. This eliminates codec issues, and allows you to stream any file type to any device that supports the PLEX app. It also allows remote mobile connections, and is the best I've found, even on 3G. It also will work as a DLNA server, if you choose to bypass the PLEX app, although then decoding is done locally on the device.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I've tried each but none work flawlessly. Either stuttering, low frame rates, bad compression, taskbar doesnt hide etc. I've used speed test and wifi analyzer and dont seem to have any issues there. I went and picked up a new ipad just to check it out (dont plan to keep it, really dont understand using a tablet and having to hold it all the time) and the boxee app is phenomenal. I saw they were hiring a lead android app developer so hopefully we'll see something soon but I'm not holding my breath. I'll keep digging and see what I can find.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
Easy..... I stream videos from my PC to tablet daily. Get TVersity on your Desktop (it's free) and then download Skifta & MX Video on the prime, bothe are free too.
Depending on your router you may need to change port or QoS settings. but it works flawless, my gf even watches vids on her iPad2 while I'm on my prime.
Streaming may lag or fail if your router is crap or desktop is too slow....
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
n8mack33 said:
I have had great success with ES and MX Player but I haven't tried a lot of file types.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 that seems to be the best option for me too
{EDIT}
It appears there is an audio issue with RockPlayer and Hardware Decoding on our device. After contacting the developers, they will be releasing a version with SW audio support while using hardware for video to fix this. Expected within one month. Post will be updated once released.
DicePlayer has been recommended as an alternative as it has HW decode and native SAMBA support, however it does not appear to handle hardware decoding for as many formats as RockPlayer (watch for SW in the upper left).
{/EDIT}
Hi all,
While going through the Accessory Guide post (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1377669) I realized there was an odd recommendation on video playback using Emit Free. With our devices there is no need for transcoding like you would have to do on an iPad, but it's still not "easy" to get full 1080P playback over the network.
With root, you can install cifs drivers that are pretty efficient, but without it, many times video stutters. I tested a large combination of File Managers that mounted CIFS/SAMBA shares and Video Players to see which performed best.
From File Manager HD and Astro to MXPlayer and XYPlayer nearly all of them had stuttering issues with 1080P video, and lag when seeking in 720P video. Below is where I ended up, which entailed perfect 1080P playback, with zero lag when seeking (tested on high bitrate MKV and AVI w/ AC3 and DTS audio samples).
1. Install ES File Explorer: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.estrongs.android.pop
ES File Explorer is a file manager that supports CIFS/SAMBA mounts (these are the shared folders on your Windows, Mac, or Linux PC). Once open, swipe right to access the network shares. I recommend turning on "Detail" mode in the settings, so you can see file sizes and permissions, too. The advantage of ES File Explorer over other managers I tried is that the CIFS implementation has been optimized very well, and was the best at streaming the file data to the video player from a speed and bandwidth perspective.
2. Install RockPlayer Lite: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.redirectin.rockplayer.android.unified.lite
RockPlayer is a great player that includes hardware acceleration, much like MXPlayer. The difference here is that like ES File Explorer, RockPlayer seems better optimized for network file handling. With other players in combination with ES File Explorer, there were still lag issues during seek. RockPlayer has none of these issues.
Be sure to enable HW acceleration in Rockplayer
Also ensure app mode is set to "stretched" instead of "zoomed"
Any questions, or other options, feel free to post below.
If this guide was helpful, please click Thanks below instead of replying to keep the thread clean.
Thanks!
Ben
i tried your suggestion.
yeah it gets rid of the lag but:
- there is no sound for most of my hd mkv videos
- subtitles dont show for mkv files
nice to see that the tfp actually does have the power to play these smoothly though!
I have been using ES File explorer and it does help with the streaming. However, I have not gotten a streaming video to play thru the whole movie/show. Seems every 10 or 30mins (differs), it will quit playing. I've tried the same setup on my Galaxy Nexus and don't have issues. I guess I can try Rock Player. I guess no one else has this issue? I've seen it mentioned once or twice while reading the boards but no answers. I thought maybe it was on my end and somehow the wifi was dropping, but if it is...its not displaying it.
I use dice player. It has native ability to open network shares and plays HD MKV files over wifi without lag or stutter.
r0ck0 said:
I use dice player. It has native ability to open network shares and plays HD MKV files over wifi without lag or stutter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can it transcode dts audio or any multichannel audio? any program i have tried plays fine but there is no audio
tried it , unfortunally no sound on most of my mkv's.
Dice player does a better job, way more codecs supported and equal network performance, rockplayer seems to build up a bigger buffer, at the beginning it may look like its more stable but after a while both are laging .. (high profile 1080)
what's up with all the lagging ? wifi performance not good enough or is the SOC not capable of streaming and decoding all at once? no problems from sdcard ..
knives of ice said:
can it transcode dts audio or any multichannel audio? any program i have tried plays fine but there is no audio
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dice player works great with mkv movies with DTS and AC3 audio on my TF201. Dice player is the best way to stream movie using a NAS Imo.
tested with dlink dns-323 and stock tf201.
Tempie007 said:
tried it , unfortunally no sound on most of my mkv's.
Dice player does a better job, way more codecs supported and equal network performance, rockplayer seems to build up a bigger buffer, at the beginning it may look like its more stable but after a while both are laging .. (high profile 1080)
what's up with all the lagging ? wifi performance not good enough or is the SOC not capable of streaming and decoding all at once? no problems from sdcard ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wifi performance is the issue for me. If i'm sitting next to the router 1080p plays fine. If I go to other rooms(even adjacent rooms) then it will stutter periodically. It really impairs one of the primary uses that I wanted the Transformer Prime for. As of now I use Plex to transcode to a smaller bitrate
Tempie007 said:
tried it , unfortunally no sound on most of my mkv's.
Dice player does a better job, way more codecs supported and equal network performance, rockplayer seems to build up a bigger buffer, at the beginning it may look like its more stable but after a while both are laging .. (high profile 1080)
what's up with all the lagging ? wifi performance not good enough or is the SOC not capable of streaming and decoding all at once? no problems from sdcard ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, I've had the exact opposite impressions with Rockplayer having more HW decoding support. In any event, I'm stupid for not testing audio.
I've updated the first post based on discussions with the developers of Rockplayer, and will do a re-work of this guide focusing on both solutions once it is released and we can test.
Thanks,
Ben
I haven't tried Rockplayer. However, I get excellent results with Diceplayer. I stream all 720p and most 1080p .mkv using estrongs file explorer. Some 1080p will get lag. Just depends on the bit rate your 1080p video is encoded at, and your WIFI connection speed.
I actually just run an entire home PC with Win 7 Ultimate on it for my movie collection. I just RJ45 it right to my Wireless router. That way I can stream all of my movies to any device in my home. I have quite a few WDTV lives hooked up to all my tv's in my house. So it works out great.
Plus once in awhile If a 1080p video isn't playing well on my prime. I convert it using airvideo. I have airvideo server running on the Win 7 server. (those that have an ipad 2 that is) Have this option. You simply load airvideo on your ipad 2. Select the .mkv you want to convert to .m4v and add it to quere. Airvideo has all the conversion and bitrate methods built in the program. So I don't have to mess with jumping on Win 7 machine. Loading a conversion program and blah blah. I have yet to find an Android program that compares to Airvideo. If someone has suggestion let me know. (Yes, I have tried PLEX). Just can't beat the Live Conversion and simple conversion in Airvideo.
lollee76 said:
I have been using ES File explorer and it does help with the streaming. However, I have not gotten a streaming video to play thru the whole movie/show. Seems every 10 or 30mins (differs), it will quit playing. I've tried the same setup on my Galaxy Nexus and don't have issues. I guess I can try Rock Player. I guess no one else has this issue? I've seen it mentioned once or twice while reading the boards but no answers. I thought maybe it was on my end and somehow the wifi was dropping, but if it is...its not displaying it.
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Yeah i get the same thing happening to me randomly.
Using mx player and es file explorer, maybe 15 or 20 mins into watching, the player will just quit by itself. Doesnt happen always though, maybe twice for every 5 vids i play.
Erusman said:
I haven't tried Rockplayer. However, I get excellent results with Diceplayer. I stream all 720p and most 1080p .mkv using estrongs file explorer. Some 1080p will get lag. Just depends on the bit rate your 1080p video is encoded at, and your WIFI connection speed.
I actually just run an entire home PC with Win 7 Ultimate on it for my movie collection. I just RJ45 it right to my Wireless router. That way I can stream all of my movies to any device in my home. I have quite a few WDTV lives hooked up to all my tv's in my house. So it works out great.
Plus once in awhile If a 1080p video isn't playing well on my prime. I convert it using airvideo. I have airvideo server running on the Win 7 server. (those that have an ipad 2 that is) Have this option. You simply load airvideo on your ipad 2. Select the .mkv you want to convert to .m4v and add it to quere. Airvideo has all the conversion and bitrate methods built in the program. So I don't have to mess with jumping on Win 7 machine. Loading a conversion program and blah blah. I have yet to find an Android program that compares to Airvideo. If someone has suggestion let me know. (Yes, I have tried PLEX). Just can't beat the Live Conversion and simple conversion in Airvideo.
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I'm amazed you think going through all that is better than PLEX. With PLEX you just load the app and select the movie... Done. For bonus it also works when you're away from home and want to watch a movie even tethered through 3G
dalingrin said:
I'm amazed you think going through all that is better than PLEX. With PLEX you just load the app and select the movie... Done. For bonus it also works when you're away from home and want to watch a movie even tethered through 3G
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Well, I will try Plex again. I haven't tried it in awhile. Alot of movies I don't have any problem with. Its only the high bit rate 1080p mkv's. I know Plex does Live conversion as well. Perhaps they have improved it since I last used it. One feature i did think was cool with plex was how it catagorized your movie collection for you.
Erusman said:
Well, I will try Plex again. I haven't tried it in awhile. Alot of movies I don't have any problem with. Its only the high bit rate 1080p mkv's. I know Plex does Live conversion as well. Perhaps they have improved it since I last used it. One feature i did think was cool with plex was how it catagorized your movie collection for you.
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Another nice thing about Plex is that you can choose not to do live transcoding and just stream the original video(silly wifi bandwidth allowing). But, that does bring me to my one complaint about Plex. You cannot directly stream the original video if it is mkv, it will always transcode.
In my experience:
If you want to avoid transcoding, then rooting + CIFS support really is the best, most efficient way, imho...plus, you're killing multiple birds with one stone, as file types not recognized by ES or other file explorers that support SAMBA, but which are supported by various apps on your tablet, will still work with whatever app you're using to interact with them.
Otherwise, this guide is good for playback without transcoding for some files. I'm able to stream some of my bluray and HD DVD rips (full bitrate mkv's with no down-sampling, de-rezzing, additional compression or detail removal) without transcoding, but high-bitrate titles such as The Empire Strikes Back hitch frequently. Don't know if that's a limitation of my wireless setup, tho).
On the transcoding side:
Emit free works fine. It's a little easier, imho, to set up remote file sharing that even Plex is, if you have to set up port forwarding manually on your router, as the instructions are pretty explicit about which ports it's using and how to get it set up. And, it's free.
Plex works fine, and cross-compatibility between Ipad and Android on the Plex server side, along with the cataloging, support for file types such as .wtv, and the channels concept, is pretty damn cool imho. You have to look around if your setup falls outside the norm as far as port forwarding manually is concerned, but if you don't experience issues, getting set up with a myPlex account for remote streaming is pretty straightforward. Transcoding looks pretty stellar if you can support anything above 4 mbps on your wireless, and it doesn't take a lot of CPU horsepower to do live streaming, either. I have an older AMD processor in my HTPC, and I stream 1080i .wtv files all day long to both my Prime and my wife's Ipad with no or extremely little stutter, and all my bluray rips play without issue. .WTV files can be played back while they're being recorded, and while watching something else on the HTPC, too...oh, and combine this with a Windows Media Center control app, and you can basically watch live tv on the Prime...just browse the guide, set a show to record, and you can watch it almost immediately in Plex, while it's recording.
Last, but not least, Splashtop THD or whatever the newer version is, actually works pretty damn well on my office rig, which is nvidia-equipped. .wtv files work as well, but you have to set your machine to open them by default in WMP instead of Windows Media Center.
Hey guys, i'm looking for best android apps to stream videos to chromecast. The problem is that most of them only support mp4 files. I found only one that supports all file formats, it transcodes the file on the fly on your phone and streams directly to chromecast. its called Megacast. Does anyone know anything similar?
Try using Plex... It's a paid app, but free from time to time in Amazon App Store
Megacast - Chromecast Video
This isn't strictly a Chromecast app, but rather than Android one that you'll need to download on your phone. Regardless of how you get it on your TV, through, Megacast is an excellent Chromecast player that has real-time transcoding support, allowing you to play files from your phone or tablet that aren't supported natively on your individual Chromecast device. This includes AVI, MKV, 3GP files and more. It can also automatically pre-load subtitles or let you add your own, making it one of the most flexible video streaming apps around
The Google Chromecast lets you display video, photos, pictures and other media content from supported apps on your big-screen TV, using your Android or iOS device as a remote control. You can also send content straight from a Chrome Web browser on your computer. There are hundreds of apps that take advantage of this unique technology, which Google calls "casting," to offer a new way to link.
Try BubbleUPnP
BubbleUPnP, many video + audio options, local transcoding, supports configurable subtitles and transcodes only when necessary.
Plex always transcodes when using subtlitles, always thanscodes if audio is Dolby/DTS to Stereo, and does not support AC3 passthrough as BubbleUPnP does.
Plex is a hog.
+1 for BubbleUPnP, amazing Android app. With a good media server running on the pc (like Serviio) you can stream everything to your Chromecast (transcoding is done by the pc).
Not a huge fan of BubbleUPnP, when I download something off ttorrent, its a roll of the dice of it will work with it. I'd have to say my go to is local cast. Worst is allcast
Allcast isnt bad. I mainly use it to stream Showbox
Plex by far.
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Emby all the way. Its,s free, its for, its better than plex
BubbleUPnP also works with DLNA and transcoding on the fly. With a powerfull device is amaizing. Slow devices work with hickups. Waiting for a while for Mxplayer to chromecast but still no go.